Motorists, cyclists dodging holes and each other

CLEVELAND - There is good news for those traveling on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood; the chasms in the roadway will be seeing repair crews soon.

Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the city of Cleveland said temporary patching should occur any day now with a permanent fix to the crumbling concrete scheduled in about three weeks.

Potholes can cause headaches for motorists but for cyclists, a pothole can be downright dangerous.

Katie O’Keefe has had a few tire blowouts as she navigates the potholes in the bike lanes on Euclid Avenue. “They are several inches deep and if you hit one with your bike, you could fall, you could fall into traffic, you could harm yourself,” she said

O’Keefe is not alone; cyclists have contacted the city regarding a particularly pothole-filled stretch of Euclid Avenue between East 40th Street and the Innerbelt.

O’Keefe pedals in bike lanes on her ride to and from Case Western Reserve University but finds herself being creative in order to keep from hitting holes.

“I’m either riding in the lane trying to avoid the pothole, veering into traffic, sometimes riding in the bus lane because it’s the safest option,” she added.

The city has crews out patching roads all over Cleveland. They say there are 10 to 12 city asphalt crews, 1 or 2 Durapatch (a high-strength concrete material) crews and 3 pothole killer machines working every day.

This winter was especially tough on area roads and Cleveland crews have used about 4,400 tons of patch materials so far this year – 20 percent more than at this point last year.

Cycling advocates are taking note of efforts to maintain bikeways as the city rolls out its ambitious plan of adding 70 miles to its network.

"It's exciting the city is connecting its network of bike facilities, but we need to have an open discussion about how we are going to maintain the existing and future network," said Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland.

VanSickle said it needs to be determined who is responsible for patching bikeways as well as removal of debris, street sweeping and snow removal and how issues are to be reported.

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